WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.720 I was looking at the Forbes billionaire list 00:00:01.720 --> 00:00:03.779 the other day, just scrolling through the names. 00:00:03.879 --> 00:00:05.740 You know how it is. Right. You see a lot of tech 00:00:05.740 --> 00:00:08.279 founders, a lot of finance moguls. A lot of people 00:00:08.279 --> 00:00:11.619 who inherited an empire. And there's, you know, 00:00:11.619 --> 00:00:14.500 there's a very specific pipeline. A pattern. 00:00:14.640 --> 00:00:17.800 A clear pattern. It's Ivy League schools. It's 00:00:17.800 --> 00:00:21.600 venture capital. It's scaling code. It's a lot 00:00:21.600 --> 00:00:24.179 of zeros and ones. It's predictable. You identify 00:00:24.179 --> 00:00:26.839 a market inefficiency. You exploit it. You scale. 00:00:27.289 --> 00:00:30.449 Simple. Exactly. But then you stop on one name 00:00:30.449 --> 00:00:33.969 and the whole pattern just breaks. The code like 00:00:33.969 --> 00:00:38.450 glitches. Oprah Winfrey. Because when you actually 00:00:38.450 --> 00:00:40.590 dig into the data and I mean, really look at 00:00:40.590 --> 00:00:42.890 the starting conditions versus the final outcome, 00:00:43.049 --> 00:00:45.130 it just shouldn't have happened. No. If you were 00:00:45.130 --> 00:00:47.009 running a simulation of the American economy 00:00:47.009 --> 00:00:50.570 starting in, say, 1954. Yeah. And you inputted 00:00:50.570 --> 00:00:53.170 her initial variables. Right. The algorithm would 00:00:53.170 --> 00:00:56.130 never, ever predict billionaire media mogul. 00:00:56.679 --> 00:00:59.119 It is, and I don't think this is an exaggeration, 00:00:59.140 --> 00:01:01.880 one of the most statistically improbable trajectories 00:01:01.880 --> 00:01:04.280 in modern history. We are talking about a woman 00:01:04.280 --> 00:01:07.319 born into rural poverty in Mississippi. I mean, 00:01:07.319 --> 00:01:09.439 literally wearing dresses made out of potato 00:01:09.439 --> 00:01:12.650 sacks. I know. It's an incredible image. Who 00:01:12.650 --> 00:01:14.930 then goes on to become the first black female 00:01:14.930 --> 00:01:18.469 billionaire in history. And not just wealthy, 00:01:18.730 --> 00:01:22.409 but someone who became a noun, a verb, an adjective 00:01:22.409 --> 00:01:25.689 all at once. And that is exactly why this deep 00:01:25.689 --> 00:01:28.579 dive is necessary. We aren't here to just. read 00:01:28.579 --> 00:01:30.939 a celebrity biography or list her favorite things. 00:01:31.019 --> 00:01:33.120 No, this is a case study. It's a case study in 00:01:33.120 --> 00:01:36.480 resilience, in business genius, and I think in 00:01:36.480 --> 00:01:38.780 a fundamental shift in how human beings communicate. 00:01:38.980 --> 00:01:41.719 It's the opification of culture, right? That's 00:01:41.719 --> 00:01:44.200 the term. Precisely. We're going to unpack how 00:01:44.200 --> 00:01:46.579 she didn't just participate in the media landscape. 00:01:46.819 --> 00:01:49.219 She completely rewrote the rules of television, 00:01:49.439 --> 00:01:51.780 of publishing, of celebrity influence. And what 00:01:51.780 --> 00:01:53.680 are we drawing on for this? We're pulling from 00:01:53.680 --> 00:01:56.140 extensive biographical records, career timelines, 00:01:56.579 --> 00:01:59.079 a lot of financial data, and some really sharp 00:01:59.079 --> 00:02:01.980 analysis of her cultural impact, ranging from 00:02:01.980 --> 00:02:05.019 her early radio days all the way to her massive 00:02:05.019 --> 00:02:07.659 real estate portfolio and her philanthropic work. 00:02:07.920 --> 00:02:10.099 So let's start at the very beginning. And when 00:02:10.099 --> 00:02:12.280 I say the beginning, I mean the name itself. 00:02:12.599 --> 00:02:14.900 Because, and this honestly blew my mind when 00:02:14.900 --> 00:02:17.819 I first read it, her name isn't actually Oprah. 00:02:18.180 --> 00:02:21.860 Not originally, no. It's a classic case of... 00:02:22.270 --> 00:02:24.590 What is basically a clerical error becoming a 00:02:24.590 --> 00:02:27.270 global brand. On her birth certificate, she is 00:02:27.270 --> 00:02:32.689 listed as Orpah. O -R -P -A -H. Orpah. That's 00:02:32.689 --> 00:02:34.370 from the Bible, isn't it? Yes, from the Book 00:02:34.370 --> 00:02:37.090 of Ruth. Her Aunt Ida chose it. It's a biblical 00:02:37.090 --> 00:02:39.550 name, very traditional. So what happened? How 00:02:39.550 --> 00:02:42.210 do you get from Orpah to Oprah? Well, you have 00:02:42.210 --> 00:02:44.370 to understand the context. We're in rural Mississippi 00:02:44.370 --> 00:02:47.389 in the mid -50s. Yeah. Literacy rates aren't 00:02:47.389 --> 00:02:49.509 what they are today. And it's a pretty unusual 00:02:49.509 --> 00:02:52.389 name. Not a common one. No. And as the story 00:02:52.389 --> 00:02:54.590 goes, no one really knew how to spell it or pronounce 00:02:54.590 --> 00:02:56.710 it correctly. People just kept mispronouncing 00:02:56.710 --> 00:02:58.590 it, flipping the P and the R. So they just kept 00:02:58.590 --> 00:03:00.409 saying Oprah? They just kept saying Oprah. And 00:03:00.409 --> 00:03:03.349 eventually Oprah just stuck. It became the name. 00:03:03.610 --> 00:03:06.930 Wow. That is such a fitting start for someone 00:03:06.930 --> 00:03:09.939 who... essentially defined her own identity against 00:03:09.939 --> 00:03:12.379 all the odds. She didn't correct the world. She 00:03:12.379 --> 00:03:14.979 let the world define the name. And then she went 00:03:14.979 --> 00:03:16.800 on to define the meaning of it. That's a great 00:03:16.800 --> 00:03:18.500 way to put it. But let's talk about those odds. 00:03:18.599 --> 00:03:20.180 You mentioned Mississippi. We're not talking 00:03:20.180 --> 00:03:23.340 about just humble beginnings. This was severe 00:03:23.340 --> 00:03:26.219 poverty. Oh, this was visceral poverty. She was 00:03:26.219 --> 00:03:29.860 born in Kosciuszko, Mississippi in 1954. Her 00:03:29.860 --> 00:03:33.099 mother, Vernita Lee, was a teenage single mother. 00:03:33.259 --> 00:03:35.449 Her parents were never married. And her father 00:03:35.449 --> 00:03:38.110 wasn't around? Her father, Vernon Winfrey, was 00:03:38.110 --> 00:03:40.849 in the armed forces at the time, so he wasn't 00:03:40.849 --> 00:03:42.870 present for the birth. And pretty soon after 00:03:42.870 --> 00:03:45.229 she was born, her mother traveled north to Milwaukee 00:03:45.229 --> 00:03:48.770 to find work. So who is she with? She left Oprah 00:03:48.770 --> 00:03:51.110 to be raised by her grandmother, Hattie Mae Lee. 00:03:51.629 --> 00:03:53.610 for the first six years of her life. And this 00:03:53.610 --> 00:03:55.870 is where the famous potato sack dresses come 00:03:55.870 --> 00:03:58.129 in. Yes. And I really want you to visualize that 00:03:58.129 --> 00:04:00.810 for a second. Yeah. Hattie Mae was destitute. 00:04:00.969 --> 00:04:03.229 I mean, truly, she didn't have money for fabric. 00:04:03.270 --> 00:04:06.650 So she literally sewed dresses for Oprah out 00:04:06.650 --> 00:04:09.229 of burlap potato sacks. I can't even imagine 00:04:09.229 --> 00:04:11.030 that. The texture alone must have been awful, 00:04:11.090 --> 00:04:13.770 but the social signal that sends. That's the 00:04:13.770 --> 00:04:16.569 key. Imagine walking into a schoolyard or a church 00:04:16.569 --> 00:04:20.519 in the 1950s South wearing essentially... farm 00:04:20.519 --> 00:04:22.879 equipment materials. You were immediately marked 00:04:22.879 --> 00:04:24.759 as other. The bottom of the ladder. You were 00:04:24.759 --> 00:04:27.420 the absolute bottom of the hierarchy. Oprah has 00:04:27.420 --> 00:04:29.899 talked about the relentless bullying she endured. 00:04:30.019 --> 00:04:33.120 It's set up this dynamic of her being an outsider 00:04:33.120 --> 00:04:36.420 from the very beginning. She was the girl in 00:04:36.420 --> 00:04:38.680 the potato sack. But her grandmother, Hattie 00:04:38.680 --> 00:04:41.759 Mae, she sounds like such a complex figure. Because 00:04:41.759 --> 00:04:43.779 on the one hand, she's putting Oprah in potato 00:04:43.779 --> 00:04:46.329 sacks. But she's also doing something else that 00:04:46.329 --> 00:04:48.730 turns out to be absolutely crucial. Hattie A. 00:04:48.810 --> 00:04:52.529 is a paradox. A complete paradox. On one hand, 00:04:52.529 --> 00:04:55.410 she was an incredibly harsh disciplinarian. She 00:04:55.410 --> 00:04:57.709 believed in that old adage, spare the rod, spoil 00:04:57.709 --> 00:05:00.790 the child. All the beatings. Oh, yes. Oprah has 00:05:00.790 --> 00:05:03.569 said she endured beatings almost daily. It was 00:05:03.569 --> 00:05:06.810 a rough, hard, unforgiving upbringing. But on 00:05:06.810 --> 00:05:09.009 the other hand, Hattie May was the one who taught 00:05:09.009 --> 00:05:10.850 Oprah to read before she was even three years 00:05:10.850 --> 00:05:13.430 old. Before three. That's prodigy level. It is. 00:05:13.990 --> 00:05:16.009 Hattie Mae was determined that Oprah would be 00:05:16.009 --> 00:05:18.949 literate. She took her to the local church, and 00:05:18.949 --> 00:05:21.889 Oprah's ability to just recite Bible verses from 00:05:21.889 --> 00:05:25.310 memory got her this nickname, The Preacher. The 00:05:25.310 --> 00:05:28.069 Preacher, wow. So you have this incredible dichotomy. 00:05:28.250 --> 00:05:31.970 Yeah. Severe discipline and crushing poverty 00:05:31.970 --> 00:05:35.750 on one side, but on the other, an early, intense 00:05:35.750 --> 00:05:38.709 installation of literacy and public performance. 00:05:39.029 --> 00:05:40.870 It's almost like the talk show host was being 00:05:40.870 --> 00:05:44.139 forged right there on that farm. Hattie Mae once 00:05:44.139 --> 00:05:45.899 said that ever since Oprah could talk, she was 00:05:45.899 --> 00:05:48.620 on a stage. She used to interview her corncob 00:05:48.620 --> 00:05:51.040 doll and the crows on the fence. She was building 00:05:51.040 --> 00:05:53.319 the skill set in a total vacuum. So that foundation 00:05:53.319 --> 00:05:57.060 is laid, literacy and performance, but then the 00:05:57.060 --> 00:05:59.420 environment shifts dramatically. She moves to 00:05:59.420 --> 00:06:01.540 Milwaukee to live with her mother, Vernita, and 00:06:01.540 --> 00:06:03.829 things get... Wow, they get much darker. Much, 00:06:03.829 --> 00:06:06.189 much darker. This is really the period of intense 00:06:06.189 --> 00:06:08.730 trauma and instability in her life. She moved 00:06:08.730 --> 00:06:10.610 to an inner -city neighborhood in Milwaukee at 00:06:10.610 --> 00:06:12.889 age six. And her mother. Her mother, Vernita, 00:06:12.990 --> 00:06:15.870 worked incredibly long hours as a maid and had 00:06:15.870 --> 00:06:18.250 very little time for supervision. The family 00:06:18.250 --> 00:06:20.629 dynamics were just incredibly difficult. And 00:06:20.629 --> 00:06:23.420 she had half -siblings by then, too, right? She 00:06:23.420 --> 00:06:25.560 did. There was a younger half -sister, Patricia, 00:06:25.879 --> 00:06:28.420 who sadly struggled with cocaine addiction for 00:06:28.420 --> 00:06:31.639 years and passed away in 2003. That's tragic. 00:06:32.079 --> 00:06:35.139 And a half -brother, Jeffrey, who died of AIDS 00:06:35.139 --> 00:06:39.040 -related causes back in 1989. And then, and this 00:06:39.040 --> 00:06:41.480 is another twist, there was a secret half -sister, 00:06:41.579 --> 00:06:43.959 also named Patricia, who was given up for adoption. 00:06:44.720 --> 00:06:46.699 Oprah didn't even know about her until 2010. 00:06:46.980 --> 00:06:49.500 My God. That's a lot of family complexity and 00:06:49.500 --> 00:06:52.240 tragedy to deal with as a child. The trauma went 00:06:52.240 --> 00:06:55.019 beyond just neglect or family secrets. It did. 00:06:55.139 --> 00:06:57.199 And Oprah has been incredibly open about this, 00:06:57.300 --> 00:06:59.279 which is a crucial part of her story because 00:06:59.279 --> 00:07:02.300 it informs her empathy later on. Starting at 00:07:02.300 --> 00:07:04.930 age nine, she was sexually abused. By family 00:07:04.930 --> 00:07:07.410 members. By a cousin, an uncle, and a family 00:07:07.410 --> 00:07:09.910 friend. She first spoke about this publicly on 00:07:09.910 --> 00:07:13.189 her own show in 1986, a really landmark moment 00:07:13.189 --> 00:07:15.209 in television. And the response from her family 00:07:15.209 --> 00:07:17.149 when she tried to tell them. It's just heartbreaking. 00:07:17.230 --> 00:07:18.970 According to biographers, when she discussed 00:07:18.970 --> 00:07:22.589 it with family members at age 24, they just refused 00:07:22.589 --> 00:07:24.750 to believe her account. So she was totally isolated. 00:07:25.129 --> 00:07:27.470 Completely. You have this young girl, incredibly 00:07:27.470 --> 00:07:30.389 smart, but she's being abused and she's not being 00:07:30.389 --> 00:07:32.779 believed. That trauma escalated. She started 00:07:32.779 --> 00:07:35.699 acting out, running away from home at 13, stealing 00:07:35.699 --> 00:07:37.819 money from her mother to try and fit in with 00:07:37.819 --> 00:07:40.360 peers at a more affluent school she'd been transferred 00:07:40.360 --> 00:07:43.399 to. And then at 14, a tragic pregnancy. Yes, 00:07:43.439 --> 00:07:46.579 she became pregnant at 14. The son was born prematurely 00:07:46.579 --> 00:07:48.860 and died shortly after birth. I mean, it's a 00:07:48.860 --> 00:07:51.399 horrific trauma for anyone, let alone a child. 00:07:51.579 --> 00:07:53.879 And to add another layer of betrayal to that 00:07:53.879 --> 00:07:57.959 tragedy. Years later. In 1990, a family member 00:07:57.959 --> 00:08:00.220 sold that story to the National Enquirer. That 00:08:00.220 --> 00:08:02.279 is just, I don't even have a word for that kind 00:08:02.279 --> 00:08:04.899 of betrayal. So you have this young girl traumatized 00:08:04.899 --> 00:08:08.040 on a clear downward spiral. By all conventional 00:08:08.040 --> 00:08:10.100 sociology, Oprah Winfrey should have become a 00:08:10.100 --> 00:08:12.980 statistic. Absolutely. A teenage mother, abuse 00:08:12.980 --> 00:08:15.879 survivor, high school dropout in inner city Milwaukee. 00:08:16.180 --> 00:08:18.420 What stops the fall? What changes things? Her 00:08:18.420 --> 00:08:21.290 father, Vernon Winfrey. The turning point. It 00:08:21.290 --> 00:08:24.649 really was. Her mother, Vernita, realizing she 00:08:24.649 --> 00:08:27.050 had completely lost control of Oprah, sent her 00:08:27.050 --> 00:08:29.750 to live with Vernon in Nashville. And Vernon 00:08:29.750 --> 00:08:31.930 was a different kind of guardian entirely. What 00:08:31.930 --> 00:08:34.750 was he like? He was a barber and a city councilman. 00:08:34.830 --> 00:08:37.970 He was very, very strict. But he made education 00:08:37.970 --> 00:08:42.429 the absolute number one priority. No exceptions. 00:08:42.789 --> 00:08:44.690 He wasn't accepting anything less than her best. 00:08:44.870 --> 00:08:47.409 Not for a second. He looked at her grades. She 00:08:47.409 --> 00:08:49.850 was like... a c student at that point and just 00:08:49.850 --> 00:08:53.649 said no you are better than this yeah he instituted 00:08:53.649 --> 00:08:56.769 a strict curfew he demanded she read a book every 00:08:56.769 --> 00:08:58.950 single week and write a report on it he demanded 00:08:58.950 --> 00:09:02.129 book reports from his own daughter can you imagine 00:09:02.129 --> 00:09:05.009 he treated parenting like a job with clear deliverables 00:09:05.009 --> 00:09:08.269 and you know what it worked how so oprah's been 00:09:08.269 --> 00:09:10.809 quoted saying he saved me he simply knew what 00:09:10.809 --> 00:09:12.769 he wanted and expected he would take nothing 00:09:12.769 --> 00:09:15.269 less and under his roof the transformation was 00:09:15.269 --> 00:09:17.820 almost immediate from what to what She went from 00:09:17.820 --> 00:09:20.460 a delinquent trajectory to an excellent trajectory 00:09:20.460 --> 00:09:23.399 in about two years. She became an honor student. 00:09:23.659 --> 00:09:26.600 She was voted most popular girl. She joined the 00:09:26.600 --> 00:09:29.080 speech team and placed second in the nation in 00:09:29.080 --> 00:09:31.860 dramatic interpretation. It's that Pygmalion 00:09:31.860 --> 00:09:33.820 effect, isn't it? When you have high expectations, 00:09:34.059 --> 00:09:36.320 you create high performance. That's it, exactly. 00:09:36.519 --> 00:09:38.720 And this leads right into her media career. It 00:09:38.720 --> 00:09:40.000 starts while she's still in high school, right? 00:09:40.100 --> 00:09:42.720 Yes. Because she had that voice, that preacher 00:09:42.720 --> 00:09:45.639 voice from her childhood. She won the Miss Black 00:09:45.639 --> 00:09:48.480 Tennessee Beauty Pageant at age 17. And that 00:09:48.480 --> 00:09:50.740 gets her noticed. It gets her noticed by a local 00:09:50.740 --> 00:09:54.419 black radio station, WVOL. They hired her to 00:09:54.419 --> 00:09:57.120 do the news part time. She did that through her 00:09:57.120 --> 00:09:59.379 senior year of high school and into college at 00:09:59.379 --> 00:10:01.399 Tennessee State University where she had a full 00:10:01.399 --> 00:10:04.909 scholarship. Though, fun fact, she didn't technically 00:10:04.909 --> 00:10:08.029 hand in her final paper until 1987. Is that right? 00:10:08.330 --> 00:10:11.309 Yeah, well, after she was famous. She was a few 00:10:11.309 --> 00:10:13.950 credits shy of the degree because her career 00:10:13.950 --> 00:10:16.190 took off so fast. She eventually finished it, 00:10:16.230 --> 00:10:18.509 but she was already a millionaire TV host before 00:10:18.509 --> 00:10:20.529 she officially got the diploma. That's amazing. 00:10:21.070 --> 00:10:23.529 So she's in Nashville, she's doing radio, and 00:10:23.529 --> 00:10:25.750 then she breaks into television. She becomes 00:10:25.750 --> 00:10:28.750 the youngest and first black female news anchor 00:10:28.750 --> 00:10:32.870 at WLAC -TV. That sounds like a dream job, but 00:10:32.870 --> 00:10:35.230 it wasn't a smooth ride, was it? Not at all. 00:10:35.370 --> 00:10:37.470 And this is such a crucial part of her evolution. 00:10:38.029 --> 00:10:40.570 She moved to Baltimore to co -anchor the news 00:10:40.570 --> 00:10:46.070 at WJZ -TV in 1976. And to put it bluntly, she 00:10:46.070 --> 00:10:48.730 failed. Failed how? I mean, how does Oprah Winfrey 00:10:48.730 --> 00:10:51.090 fail at TV? She failed at being a news anchor. 00:10:51.370 --> 00:10:52.970 You have to think about the era. This is the 00:10:52.970 --> 00:10:56.330 1970s. The model for a news anchor is Walter 00:10:56.330 --> 00:10:59.269 Cronkite. Just the facts. Detached. Objective. 00:10:59.309 --> 00:11:02.000 Serious. And Oprah is. Constitutionally, none 00:11:02.000 --> 00:11:04.580 of those things. She is incapable of detachment. 00:11:04.720 --> 00:11:07.320 She would read a story about a fire or some tragedy, 00:11:07.419 --> 00:11:09.480 and she would start tearing up on air. Her voice 00:11:09.480 --> 00:11:11.200 would crack. She was empathizing with the subjects. 00:11:11.399 --> 00:11:13.620 Way too much for the news directors. Management 00:11:13.620 --> 00:11:16.019 hated it. They criticized her for being too emotional. 00:11:16.220 --> 00:11:18.080 They also criticized her physical appearance. 00:11:18.320 --> 00:11:20.340 They sent her to a salon that gave her this awful 00:11:20.340 --> 00:11:22.679 French perm, which made all her hair fall out. 00:11:22.799 --> 00:11:26.379 Oh, my God. So she was bald, emotional, and seen 00:11:26.379 --> 00:11:29.019 as a total liability on the anchor desk. So what 00:11:29.019 --> 00:11:31.509 did they do? Did they fire her? They couldn't. 00:11:31.509 --> 00:11:33.750 She had a contract. So they kicked her off the 00:11:33.750 --> 00:11:35.909 anchor desk and put her where they thought she 00:11:35.909 --> 00:11:39.769 could do the least damage. The morning slot. 00:11:40.090 --> 00:11:43.049 A little local talk show called People Are Talking. 00:11:43.289 --> 00:11:46.710 The graveyard slot. Exactly. And that was the 00:11:46.710 --> 00:11:50.629 spark. August 14th, 1978, she does her first 00:11:50.629 --> 00:11:53.210 show. And she later said that the very first 00:11:53.210 --> 00:11:55.370 day she did that show, she felt like she had 00:11:55.370 --> 00:11:57.769 finally come home. because her weakness became 00:11:57.769 --> 00:12:00.250 her strength. Her emotional style, which was 00:12:00.250 --> 00:12:03.129 seen as unprofessional for the news, was pure 00:12:03.129 --> 00:12:05.990 gold for a talk format. She could connect. She 00:12:05.990 --> 00:12:07.929 could empathize. It was her superpower. This 00:12:07.929 --> 00:12:11.029 is a classic product market fit moment in business, 00:12:11.149 --> 00:12:12.950 isn't it? She was trying to sell the product 00:12:12.950 --> 00:12:16.649 of News Anchor, and the market said no. She switched 00:12:16.649 --> 00:12:18.789 to the product of Human Connection, and the market 00:12:18.789 --> 00:12:21.750 just exploded. It was instantaneous. Within a 00:12:21.750 --> 00:12:23.690 short time, she was beating Phil Donahue and 00:12:23.690 --> 00:12:25.370 the local Baltimore ratings. And you have to 00:12:25.370 --> 00:12:27.860 remember, Donahue was the absolute king of daytime 00:12:27.860 --> 00:12:31.620 TV back then. Which brings us to Chicago, 1984. 00:12:32.519 --> 00:12:35.340 She gets headhunted to take over this low -rated 00:12:35.340 --> 00:12:37.799 morning show called AM Chicago. It was in last 00:12:37.799 --> 00:12:41.200 place, dead last in the market. And within months... 00:12:41.639 --> 00:12:44.600 Not years. Months. She took it to number one, 00:12:44.700 --> 00:12:46.679 overtaking Donahue in the much bigger Chicago 00:12:46.679 --> 00:12:48.960 market. And we have to mention Roger Ebert here. 00:12:49.240 --> 00:12:51.720 Yes. The film critic. This is such a great story. 00:12:52.059 --> 00:12:54.980 He and Oprah dated briefly in the mid -80s, and 00:12:54.980 --> 00:12:57.519 he gave her perhaps the single most important 00:12:57.519 --> 00:13:00.000 piece of business advice of her entire life. 00:13:00.120 --> 00:13:02.419 What was it? She was considering a syndication 00:13:02.419 --> 00:13:05.519 deal with ABC. Standard deal. Ebert pulled out 00:13:05.519 --> 00:13:07.299 a napkin in a restaurant and did the math for 00:13:07.299 --> 00:13:09.440 her. He told her, don't sign with them. Sign 00:13:09.440 --> 00:13:11.889 with King World instead. Why King World? What 00:13:11.889 --> 00:13:13.669 was the difference? Because they would give her 00:13:13.669 --> 00:13:15.590 a percentage of the gross revenue, not just a 00:13:15.590 --> 00:13:17.970 salary. He predicted she would generate massive, 00:13:17.990 --> 00:13:20.570 massive revenue. He said something like 40 times 00:13:20.570 --> 00:13:22.710 what his and Siskel's show made. Good advice, 00:13:22.789 --> 00:13:25.029 right? Unbelievably good advice. The show was 00:13:25.029 --> 00:13:27.129 renamed The Oprah Winfrey Show. It went national 00:13:27.129 --> 00:13:30.169 in September 1986, and it immediately displaced 00:13:30.169 --> 00:13:32.629 Phil Donahue as the number one daytime talk show 00:13:32.629 --> 00:13:35.230 in America. Let's unpack that rivalry for a second, 00:13:35.269 --> 00:13:38.169 though, because Phil Donahue really was the pioneer. 00:13:38.269 --> 00:13:41.250 He invented the format, the audience participation, 00:13:41.629 --> 00:13:43.409 walking around with the microphone. He did. He 00:13:43.409 --> 00:13:46.129 built the house. So what did Oprah do differently? 00:13:46.350 --> 00:13:48.669 What was the technical difference in the product 00:13:48.669 --> 00:13:51.950 that made her so much more successful? This is 00:13:51.950 --> 00:13:54.690 where we need to introduce a concept from sociolinguistics, 00:13:54.730 --> 00:13:57.909 which is rapport talk versus report talk. OK, 00:13:57.990 --> 00:14:00.470 break that down for us. Phil Donahue's style 00:14:00.470 --> 00:14:03.970 was fundamentally report talk. It was informational. 00:14:04.190 --> 00:14:06.389 It was somewhat journalistic. You would walk 00:14:06.389 --> 00:14:09.009 into the audience, hold the microphone, and ask, 00:14:09.190 --> 00:14:12.350 Sir, what is your opinion on this public policy? 00:14:12.610 --> 00:14:15.590 It was debate -oriented. And Oprah? Oprah introduced 00:14:15.590 --> 00:14:18.870 Rapport Talk. Rapport Talk. Yes. Time magazine 00:14:18.870 --> 00:14:21.029 did a great assessment of this back in 1988. 00:14:21.350 --> 00:14:23.750 They noted she lacked what they called journalistic 00:14:23.750 --> 00:14:27.129 toughness. But she excelled in empathy, curiosity, 00:14:27.190 --> 00:14:30.419 and humor. She didn't ask for opinions. She validated 00:14:30.419 --> 00:14:32.820 feelings. So it wasn't, what do you think? It 00:14:32.820 --> 00:14:35.799 was, how did that feel? It was, I feel your pain. 00:14:35.960 --> 00:14:39.120 Or even, that happened to me too. She completely 00:14:39.120 --> 00:14:41.639 dissolved the barrier between the host and the 00:14:41.639 --> 00:14:44.440 guest, between the stage and the audience. That's 00:14:44.440 --> 00:14:46.580 the whole oprification term we mentioned, right? 00:14:46.620 --> 00:14:49.220 The idea of public confession as a form of therapy. 00:14:49.460 --> 00:14:51.919 Exactly. She blurred the lines between public 00:14:51.919 --> 00:14:54.879 and private life in a way no one ever had before. 00:14:55.340 --> 00:14:58.269 By sharing her own struggles, her weight, the 00:14:58.269 --> 00:15:01.330 abuse, her relationship issues. She made it safe 00:15:01.330 --> 00:15:04.049 for guests and the audience to do the same. She 00:15:04.049 --> 00:15:06.409 wasn't an authority figure looking down. She 00:15:06.409 --> 00:15:08.629 was a friend sitting right beside you. And this 00:15:08.629 --> 00:15:12.409 had real, tangible social consequences. We have 00:15:12.409 --> 00:15:14.509 to talk about the impact on the LGBT community. 00:15:14.830 --> 00:15:17.860 This is so significant. The sociologist Joshua 00:15:17.860 --> 00:15:20.299 Gamson argues that the tabloid talk shows of 00:15:20.299 --> 00:15:23.220 that era, and specifically Oprah's show, did 00:15:23.220 --> 00:15:26.100 more to make LGBT people mainstream and socially 00:15:26.100 --> 00:15:28.639 acceptable than almost any other single development 00:15:28.639 --> 00:15:30.720 in the 20th century. That's a massive claim. 00:15:30.980 --> 00:15:32.899 It's a huge claim. But think about the visibility. 00:15:33.639 --> 00:15:36.399 In the 80s and early 90s, gay people were often 00:15:36.399 --> 00:15:38.779 either completely invisible in the media or they 00:15:38.779 --> 00:15:41.320 were punchlines. Oprah put them on the couch. 00:15:41.460 --> 00:15:43.879 She treated them like human beings with relatable 00:15:43.879 --> 00:15:47.240 emotional lives, problems, joys. And then, of 00:15:47.240 --> 00:15:49.940 course, there was the 1997 episode of the sitcom 00:15:49.940 --> 00:15:52.580 Ellen, the famous puppy episode where Ellen DeGeneres 00:15:52.580 --> 00:15:54.779 came out. And who guest starred in that episode. 00:15:54.980 --> 00:15:57.960 Oprah as the therapist. She literally played 00:15:57.960 --> 00:16:01.320 the role of the person. Helping America accept 00:16:01.320 --> 00:16:03.379 this revelation. And she took massive, massive 00:16:03.379 --> 00:16:06.019 heat for it. Hate mail, death threats, affiliates 00:16:06.019 --> 00:16:08.700 refusing to air it. But she stood by it. It's 00:16:08.700 --> 00:16:10.799 a prime example of her using her platform to 00:16:10.799 --> 00:16:13.120 actively shift the culture, not just reflect 00:16:13.120 --> 00:16:15.179 it. So she's shifting the culture, but she's 00:16:15.179 --> 00:16:17.620 also building a bank account that is, frankly, 00:16:17.799 --> 00:16:21.460 staggering. Let's move to part three, the billionaire 00:16:21.460 --> 00:16:23.980 businesswoman. Because she didn't just take a 00:16:23.980 --> 00:16:26.919 salary like Roger Ebert warned her not to. No. 00:16:27.080 --> 00:16:29.320 And this is the business lesson of the century. 00:16:29.759 --> 00:16:32.399 When she went into syndication, she didn't just 00:16:32.399 --> 00:16:34.600 take that cut of the revenue. She eventually 00:16:34.600 --> 00:16:37.100 negotiated ownership rights of her own program. 00:16:37.679 --> 00:16:40.860 She established Harpo Productions. Oprah spelled 00:16:40.860 --> 00:16:43.600 backwards. And ownership is everything. It's 00:16:43.600 --> 00:16:46.139 the key. It is. Owning the program means she 00:16:46.139 --> 00:16:48.440 owns the master tapes. Every single time that 00:16:48.440 --> 00:16:50.639 show re -airs, every time it's sold to a foreign 00:16:50.639 --> 00:16:53.059 market, every clip that's used in a highlight 00:16:53.059 --> 00:16:56.259 reel, she gets paid. She isn't being paid for 00:16:56.259 --> 00:16:58.519 her time. She's being paid for the assets she 00:16:58.519 --> 00:17:00.860 created. That's the real wealth generator. It 00:17:00.860 --> 00:17:02.820 allowed her to become a millionaire by age 32. 00:17:03.100 --> 00:17:05.880 By the time she was 41, she was worth $340 million. 00:17:06.440 --> 00:17:09.220 And she replaced Bill Cosby on the Forbes 400 00:17:09.220 --> 00:17:12.019 list. She was the only African -American on that 00:17:12.019 --> 00:17:14.240 list for a long time. And when did she hit the 00:17:14.240 --> 00:17:17.160 billion -dollar mark? That was in 2003. She officially 00:17:17.160 --> 00:17:19.740 became the world's first black female billionaire. 00:17:20.250 --> 00:17:22.730 And for a long time, she was the only one. It's 00:17:22.730 --> 00:17:25.450 just incredible. A 2006 report I saw said she 00:17:25.450 --> 00:17:28.730 earned $260 million that year alone. Which was 00:17:28.730 --> 00:17:30.630 five times more than the number two earner in 00:17:30.630 --> 00:17:32.809 entertainment, Simon Cowell. And she wasn't just 00:17:32.809 --> 00:17:35.490 hoarding it. She was expanding. She leveraged 00:17:35.490 --> 00:17:38.269 that incredible cash flow to build an entire 00:17:38.269 --> 00:17:41.109 ecosystem around the Oprah brand. Right. She 00:17:41.109 --> 00:17:43.109 co -founded the Oxygen Network for Women. She 00:17:43.109 --> 00:17:46.230 launched Oh! The Oprah Magazine. And that magazine 00:17:46.230 --> 00:17:48.710 was an absolute beast. Fortune magazine called 00:17:48.710 --> 00:17:50.970 it the most successful startup in the entire 00:17:50.970 --> 00:17:53.509 industry at the time. It wasn't just a fan newsletter, 00:17:53.710 --> 00:17:56.950 was it? Oh, no. It was a lifestyle Bible for 00:17:56.950 --> 00:18:00.069 upwardly mobile women. The average reader earned 00:18:00.069 --> 00:18:02.890 well above the median income. It solidified her 00:18:02.890 --> 00:18:05.930 status not just as a host, but as a true tastemaker. 00:18:06.150 --> 00:18:07.910 And then, of course, the Oprah Winfrey Network, 00:18:08.069 --> 00:18:11.289 OWN, which launched in 2011 after the show ended. 00:18:11.390 --> 00:18:13.930 And more recently, her big partnership with Apple 00:18:13.930 --> 00:18:17.609 TV plus Ellie. It's a full -fledged empire. But 00:18:17.609 --> 00:18:20.089 what's so fascinating is that this entire empire 00:18:20.089 --> 00:18:23.299 is built on one thing, influence. Which brings 00:18:23.299 --> 00:18:25.900 us to the Oprah effect. This is a term that economists 00:18:25.900 --> 00:18:28.440 actually study. They do. It's the documented 00:18:28.440 --> 00:18:31.440 power to influence public opinion and, more importantly, 00:18:31.579 --> 00:18:34.000 consumer purchasing on a massive, massive scale. 00:18:34.220 --> 00:18:36.720 The most obvious and famous example being the 00:18:36.720 --> 00:18:40.759 book club. The book club launched in 1996. It 00:18:40.759 --> 00:18:43.619 was Midas Touch. If Oprah selected your book, 00:18:43.779 --> 00:18:46.779 you were a bestseller. Period. End of story. 00:18:47.039 --> 00:18:49.000 It didn't matter if it was a new novel or a classic. 00:18:49.259 --> 00:18:52.349 It didn't matter at all. She picked John Steinbeck's 00:18:52.349 --> 00:18:54.630 East of Eden, a book that had been out for decades, 00:18:54.930 --> 00:18:57.630 and it soared to the top of the bestseller charts. 00:18:58.170 --> 00:19:00.430 She did the same with Tolstoy's Anna Karenina. 00:19:00.789 --> 00:19:03.190 We're talking about generating tens of millions 00:19:03.190 --> 00:19:05.869 of dollars in sales, sometimes overnight. But 00:19:05.869 --> 00:19:07.549 it wasn't always smooth sailing. There were a 00:19:07.549 --> 00:19:11.190 few very public controversies. The Jonathan Franzen 00:19:11.190 --> 00:19:13.859 incident stands out. Oh, yes. The Clash of the 00:19:13.859 --> 00:19:17.059 Titans. This is in 2001. She picked his very 00:19:17.059 --> 00:19:19.720 serious literary novel, The Corrections. And 00:19:19.720 --> 00:19:21.980 he wasn't happy about it. He publicly said he 00:19:21.980 --> 00:19:25.059 cringe at the selection. He implied that having 00:19:25.059 --> 00:19:27.000 that Oprah sticker on his book cover meant it 00:19:27.000 --> 00:19:30.140 was schmaltzy or lowbrow. Ouch. That's some palpable 00:19:30.140 --> 00:19:33.000 snobbery. It was. And Oprah did not take it lying 00:19:33.000 --> 00:19:35.339 down. She rescinded the invitation to be on her 00:19:35.339 --> 00:19:37.500 show. She basically said, OK, you don't have 00:19:37.500 --> 00:19:39.329 to be a part of the club. It was a huge power 00:19:39.329 --> 00:19:41.730 move. It showed she didn't need the validation 00:19:41.730 --> 00:19:45.210 of the literary elite. They needed her. And then 00:19:45.210 --> 00:19:47.869 the James Frey scandal. A million little pieces. 00:19:48.029 --> 00:19:50.109 That was much more serious. That was a major, 00:19:50.170 --> 00:19:52.730 major moment for her credibility. She promoted 00:19:52.730 --> 00:19:54.690 this memoir about addiction and redemption as 00:19:54.690 --> 00:19:57.529 a true story. She championed it. And it turned 00:19:57.529 --> 00:19:59.769 out. Large parts of it were fabricated. Exactly. 00:20:00.289 --> 00:20:03.470 And Oprah initially defended him. But then she 00:20:03.470 --> 00:20:05.869 must have realized the damage this could do to 00:20:05.869 --> 00:20:08.180 her entire brand. Because her brand is built 00:20:08.180 --> 00:20:10.759 on trust. Her brand is trust. Yeah. Her brand 00:20:10.759 --> 00:20:13.180 is authenticity. If she is seen as a peddler 00:20:13.180 --> 00:20:17.059 of lies, even unintentionally, the entire Oprah 00:20:17.059 --> 00:20:20.559 effect evaporates. So what did she do? She invited 00:20:20.559 --> 00:20:23.369 him back on the show. And she effectively interrogated 00:20:23.369 --> 00:20:25.490 him. She flayed him alive on national television. 00:20:25.609 --> 00:20:28.390 It was brutal to watch, but she had to correct 00:20:28.390 --> 00:20:31.230 the record publicly to maintain that sacred trust 00:20:31.230 --> 00:20:33.309 with her audience. That Oprah effect wasn't limited 00:20:33.309 --> 00:20:35.710 to books, though. It could move entire markets. 00:20:35.970 --> 00:20:39.390 I'm thinking of the beef lawsuit. 1996, the mad 00:20:39.390 --> 00:20:42.430 cow episode. She had a guest on discussing the 00:20:42.430 --> 00:20:44.529 dangers of mad cow disease. And in the middle 00:20:44.529 --> 00:20:46.950 of the conversation, Oprah famously said, it 00:20:46.950 --> 00:20:48.730 has just stopped me cold from eating another 00:20:48.730 --> 00:20:51.720 burger. One sentence. Just one sentence. And 00:20:51.720 --> 00:20:54.380 cattle futures on the stock market plummeted. 00:20:54.480 --> 00:20:57.640 Beef producers claim they lost $11 million almost 00:20:57.640 --> 00:21:01.279 instantly. So they sued her. A group of Texas 00:21:01.279 --> 00:21:04.920 cattlemen sued her for business disparagement. 00:21:05.019 --> 00:21:07.140 It was a huge trial. She had to move her entire 00:21:07.140 --> 00:21:10.039 show production down to Amarillo, Texas for the 00:21:10.039 --> 00:21:12.279 duration of the trial. And she won. She won. 00:21:13.069 --> 00:21:15.369 The jury found she wasn't liable. It was seen 00:21:15.369 --> 00:21:17.950 as a huge victory for free speech, but it also 00:21:17.950 --> 00:21:20.670 just demonstrated her sheer economic power. A 00:21:20.670 --> 00:21:23.170 single off -the -cuff comment from Oprah Winfrey 00:21:23.170 --> 00:21:25.809 could crash a commodity market. And that incredible 00:21:25.809 --> 00:21:29.329 power translated to politics, too, the 2008 election. 00:21:29.630 --> 00:21:31.450 This is where you can argue the Oprah effect 00:21:31.450 --> 00:21:33.869 literally changed the course of American history. 00:21:34.140 --> 00:21:35.940 She had never endorsed a presidential candidate 00:21:35.940 --> 00:21:38.500 before 2008. But she came out for Barack Obama. 00:21:38.880 --> 00:21:40.940 Very early in the Democratic primary. And this 00:21:40.940 --> 00:21:42.720 wasn't just another celebrity saying, hey, I 00:21:42.720 --> 00:21:45.619 like this guy. No. Economists at the University 00:21:45.619 --> 00:21:48.549 of Maryland. actually crunched the numbers. They 00:21:48.549 --> 00:21:50.970 ran a statistical analysis and estimated that 00:21:50.970 --> 00:21:53.650 her endorsement was directly responsible for 00:21:53.650 --> 00:21:56.269 approximately one million votes for Obama in 00:21:56.269 --> 00:21:58.410 the Democratic primary. A million votes. Yeah. 00:21:58.470 --> 00:22:01.069 Given how close that primary race was between 00:22:01.069 --> 00:22:03.769 Obama and Hillary Clinton. It is very, very likely 00:22:03.769 --> 00:22:05.829 that her endorsement was the single deciding 00:22:05.829 --> 00:22:08.779 factor. that won in the nomination. That is just 00:22:08.779 --> 00:22:11.619 wild. A talk show host tilting a presidential 00:22:11.619 --> 00:22:13.759 election. The governor of Illinois at the time, 00:22:13.819 --> 00:22:17.359 Rod Blagojevich, said her voice was larger than 00:22:17.359 --> 00:22:20.240 all 100 senators combined. And she's continued 00:22:20.240 --> 00:22:22.579 that influence, right? She endorsed Hillary in 00:22:22.579 --> 00:22:26.160 2016, John Fetterman in 2022, and Kamala Harris 00:22:26.160 --> 00:22:29.660 in 2024. But 2008 really felt like the peak of 00:22:29.660 --> 00:22:32.859 that political power. It was. But as her influence 00:22:32.859 --> 00:22:35.839 grew, so did the scrutiny and the criticism regarding 00:22:35.839 --> 00:22:38.259 how she used it, particularly in the realm of 00:22:38.259 --> 00:22:40.759 health and spirituality. Right. Let's move to 00:22:40.759 --> 00:22:43.279 part five, the Church of O, as some called it. 00:22:43.339 --> 00:22:45.779 In the mid -90s, the show made a very deliberate 00:22:45.779 --> 00:22:48.599 pivot away from the trashier tabloid topics. 00:22:48.940 --> 00:22:51.500 You know, the my teen is out of control kind 00:22:51.500 --> 00:22:53.680 of stuff. And move toward. Change your life TV. 00:22:54.319 --> 00:22:57.660 It became about spirituality, self -improvement. 00:22:57.819 --> 00:23:00.960 Mindfulness. Christianity Today even called her 00:23:00.960 --> 00:23:03.599 a postmodern priestess. She brought figures like 00:23:03.599 --> 00:23:06.759 Eckhart Tolle to the mainstream. His book, A 00:23:06.759 --> 00:23:09.799 New Earth. She did these massive online web seminars 00:23:09.799 --> 00:23:12.039 with him that millions of people watched. She 00:23:12.039 --> 00:23:14.259 heavily promoted The Secret, which is all about 00:23:14.259 --> 00:23:17.019 the law of attraction. She was blending a kind 00:23:17.019 --> 00:23:19.559 of Christianity with New Age spirituality and 00:23:19.559 --> 00:23:22.089 self -help. But this is also where things get 00:23:22.089 --> 00:23:24.809 a bit sticky with science, because when you elevate 00:23:24.809 --> 00:23:27.410 intuition and personal testimony above everything 00:23:27.410 --> 00:23:30.109 else, you sometimes run into a wall of scientific 00:23:30.109 --> 00:23:34.240 fact. You do. And she has faced significant and 00:23:34.240 --> 00:23:36.619 many would say valid criticism for promoting 00:23:36.619 --> 00:23:39.660 what some call junk science. Because she trusted 00:23:39.660 --> 00:23:41.779 her gut and she trusted her friends, she sometimes 00:23:41.779 --> 00:23:44.059 gave a massive platform to some very dangerous 00:23:44.059 --> 00:23:47.099 ideas. For example, Jenny McCarthy. Yes. Jenny 00:23:47.099 --> 00:23:49.500 McCarthy's anti -vaccine views were given a huge 00:23:49.500 --> 00:23:51.819 megaphone on Oprah's show at the height of her 00:23:51.819 --> 00:23:55.480 influence. Suzanne Somers was on promoting bioidentical 00:23:55.480 --> 00:23:57.660 hormone treatments that were not accepted by 00:23:57.660 --> 00:23:59.769 mainstream medicine. And then there are the doctors 00:23:59.769 --> 00:24:02.809 she actually made famous, Dr. Phil and Dr. Oz. 00:24:03.049 --> 00:24:06.230 These are her direct protégés. Dr. Phil has been 00:24:06.230 --> 00:24:08.529 criticized for years by organizations like the 00:24:08.529 --> 00:24:10.849 National Alliance on Mental Illness as being 00:24:10.849 --> 00:24:14.150 unethical in his approach. But Dr. Oz is probably 00:24:14.150 --> 00:24:16.190 the most significant controversy. He was her 00:24:16.190 --> 00:24:18.829 go -to health expert. He was America's doctor 00:24:18.829 --> 00:24:21.470 because of her. The Oprah effect launched his 00:24:21.470 --> 00:24:24.210 career into the stratosphere. But he went on 00:24:24.210 --> 00:24:26.470 to be hauled before Congress for promoting so 00:24:26.470 --> 00:24:30.359 -called miracle weight loss pills. And his advice 00:24:30.359 --> 00:24:33.039 during the pandemic. Right. His comments on COVID 00:24:33.039 --> 00:24:36.240 -19 and unproven cures led to widespread calls 00:24:36.240 --> 00:24:39.220 for Oprah to publicly denounce him. It really 00:24:39.220 --> 00:24:41.339 highlights the double -edged sword of her influence. 00:24:41.640 --> 00:24:44.359 How so? People trust her implicitly. So if she 00:24:44.359 --> 00:24:46.819 endorses a doctor, that doctor has instant credibility 00:24:46.819 --> 00:24:50.420 with millions. If that doctor then peddles pseudoscience, 00:24:50.599 --> 00:24:52.920 Oprah shares in some of that responsibility, 00:24:53.299 --> 00:24:55.480 whether she wants to or not. And speaking of 00:24:55.480 --> 00:24:57.819 health, we have to talk about her own very personal, 00:24:57.920 --> 00:25:00.940 very public battle, her weight. It was arguably 00:25:00.940 --> 00:25:03.400 the most public struggle of her entire life, 00:25:03.559 --> 00:25:06.440 played out for decades on magazine covers and 00:25:06.440 --> 00:25:08.880 on her show. I will never forget the wagon of 00:25:08.880 --> 00:25:12.819 fat. 1988, a classic Oprah moment. She wheeled 00:25:12.819 --> 00:25:15.380 out a little red wagon containing 67 pounds of 00:25:15.380 --> 00:25:17.920 animal fat to represent the weight she had lost 00:25:17.920 --> 00:25:20.819 on a liquid diet. It was so visceral, it was 00:25:20.819 --> 00:25:23.019 triumphant. But she gained it all back. Because 00:25:23.019 --> 00:25:25.619 she did. And she was always brutally honest about 00:25:25.619 --> 00:25:28.539 it. She once called her weight a cushion against 00:25:28.539 --> 00:25:31.000 the world's disapproval, which links all the 00:25:31.000 --> 00:25:32.819 way back to that need to be liked she developed 00:25:32.819 --> 00:25:35.359 as a bullied child. And later in life, she bought 00:25:35.359 --> 00:25:37.740 a huge stake in Weight Watchers. She bought 10 00:25:37.740 --> 00:25:40.099 % of the company, joined the board, and has been 00:25:40.099 --> 00:25:42.680 very open recently about using new weight loss 00:25:42.680 --> 00:25:45.420 drugs like Ozempic. She monetized the struggle. 00:25:45.500 --> 00:25:47.440 It's been a lifelong public conversation she's 00:25:47.440 --> 00:25:49.539 had with her audience. Let's pivot a bit to her 00:25:49.539 --> 00:25:52.059 artistic side. Because beyond the talk show, 00:25:52.259 --> 00:25:55.119 she's an Oscar -nominated actress. She is. Her 00:25:55.119 --> 00:25:57.960 role as Sophia in The Color Purple back in 1985, 00:25:58.400 --> 00:26:01.019 it was her film debut, she was nominated for 00:26:01.019 --> 00:26:02.740 Best Supporting Actress. And it was a powerful 00:26:02.740 --> 00:26:05.619 performance. A powerhouse performance. And you 00:26:05.619 --> 00:26:08.279 can talk about art imitating life. Sophia is 00:26:08.279 --> 00:26:10.660 this strong -willed woman who is beaten down 00:26:10.660 --> 00:26:13.900 by society, but absolutely refuses to break. 00:26:14.789 --> 00:26:16.609 Oprah channeled everything she had been through 00:26:16.609 --> 00:26:18.869 into that role. And then she produced the Broadway 00:26:18.869 --> 00:26:21.690 musical adaptation years later. But her next 00:26:21.690 --> 00:26:24.890 big film, Beloved, that was a different story. 00:26:25.329 --> 00:26:28.039 Beloved was her ultimate passion project. It 00:26:28.039 --> 00:26:30.259 was released in 1998 based on the masterpiece 00:26:30.259 --> 00:26:32.859 novel by Toni Morrison. Oprah played the lead 00:26:32.859 --> 00:26:35.779 role, Seath, a former slave haunted by her past. 00:26:36.039 --> 00:26:38.000 And her preparation for that role was intense. 00:26:38.559 --> 00:26:41.220 Unbelievably intense. She underwent a 24 -hour 00:26:41.220 --> 00:26:45.240 slavery simulation where she was tied up, blindfolded, 00:26:45.240 --> 00:26:47.460 and left in the woods to try and connect with 00:26:47.460 --> 00:26:49.200 the trauma of the character. She really committed. 00:26:49.440 --> 00:26:51.299 She did. But the movie was a commercial failure, 00:26:51.440 --> 00:26:54.400 a big one. It lost about $30 million. It seemed 00:26:54.400 --> 00:26:56.619 audiences just weren't ready for a heavy supernatural 00:26:56.619 --> 00:26:59.720 slavery drama from The Queen of Daytime. A hard 00:26:59.720 --> 00:27:02.460 blow for her. A very hard blow, especially given 00:27:02.460 --> 00:27:04.880 the emotional and financial investment. But she 00:27:04.880 --> 00:27:08.220 kept going. She had significant Oscar buzz for 00:27:08.220 --> 00:27:10.839 her role in The Butler in 2013, though she was 00:27:10.839 --> 00:27:13.839 ultimately snubbed for a nomination. And she 00:27:13.839 --> 00:27:17.039 starred in Disney's A Wrinkle in Time. It just 00:27:17.039 --> 00:27:19.200 goes to show that even Oprah doesn't win every 00:27:19.200 --> 00:27:21.819 single time. But she wins where it counts, especially 00:27:21.819 --> 00:27:24.059 when it comes to philanthropy. Her generosity 00:27:24.059 --> 00:27:27.059 is just legendary. Her angel network raised over 00:27:27.059 --> 00:27:30.759 $80 million for various causes. And this is the 00:27:30.759 --> 00:27:33.759 key part. Oprah personally covered all the administrative 00:27:33.759 --> 00:27:36.259 costs herself. So 100 % of donations went to 00:27:36.259 --> 00:27:39.000 the charity. 100%. That is incredibly rare in 00:27:39.000 --> 00:27:41.519 the charity world. Usually a big chunk goes to 00:27:41.519 --> 00:27:43.079 overhead. And, of course, the school in South 00:27:43.079 --> 00:27:45.259 Africa. The Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy 00:27:45.259 --> 00:27:48.559 for Girls. She invested $40 million of her own 00:27:48.559 --> 00:27:50.579 money to build it from the ground up. She was 00:27:50.579 --> 00:27:53.099 involved in every detail, the thread count of 00:27:53.099 --> 00:27:56.039 the sheets, the design of the dorms. She wanted 00:27:56.039 --> 00:27:57.960 it to be beautiful. And there was some criticism 00:27:57.960 --> 00:28:01.259 about that, right? That it was too elitist. Yes. 00:28:01.859 --> 00:28:04.319 Critics asked, why are you building a palace 00:28:04.319 --> 00:28:06.539 for a few dozen girls instead of a simpler school 00:28:06.539 --> 00:28:09.500 for thousands? Her response was fascinating. 00:28:09.740 --> 00:28:12.200 What did she say? She said, if you are surrounded 00:28:12.200 --> 00:28:14.319 by beautiful things and wonderful teachers who 00:28:14.319 --> 00:28:17.299 inspire you, that beauty brings out the beauty 00:28:17.299 --> 00:28:19.940 in you. She wanted to signal to these black girls 00:28:19.940 --> 00:28:22.319 from impoverished backgrounds that they deserve 00:28:22.319 --> 00:28:25.440 the absolute best, not just the bare basics. 00:28:25.700 --> 00:28:27.759 And she has a real maternal connection to those 00:28:27.759 --> 00:28:29.339 girls, doesn't she? She calls them her daughters. 00:28:29.799 --> 00:28:32.039 Since she has no living children of her own, 00:28:32.140 --> 00:28:35.319 the Academy really became a focus for her nurturing 00:28:35.319 --> 00:28:37.819 instincts. That brings us to her personal life, 00:28:37.980 --> 00:28:40.960 the enigma that is Stedman Graham. Stedman Graham. 00:28:41.119 --> 00:28:44.180 They have been partners since 1986. They were 00:28:44.180 --> 00:28:47.680 engaged once, back in 1992, but they never married. 00:28:47.880 --> 00:28:50.039 It's one of the most enduring partnerships in 00:28:50.039 --> 00:28:52.740 Hollywood, precisely because it defies convention. 00:28:53.220 --> 00:28:55.279 Why do you think they never got married? Well, 00:28:55.299 --> 00:28:57.279 Oprah herself has said that if they had married, 00:28:57.500 --> 00:28:59.799 they would have divorced by now. She realized 00:28:59.799 --> 00:29:01.700 she couldn't fit into the traditional role of 00:29:01.700 --> 00:29:04.220 wife. She needed a partnership that allowed her 00:29:04.220 --> 00:29:07.220 to be the global titan that she is without traditional 00:29:07.220 --> 00:29:09.940 domestic expectations. And Stebnan seems secure 00:29:09.940 --> 00:29:12.220 enough for that. He seems to be one of the few 00:29:12.220 --> 00:29:15.160 men on Earth secure enough to stand in that powerful 00:29:15.160 --> 00:29:17.819 a shadow without feeling like he's disappeared. 00:29:18.160 --> 00:29:20.380 And then, of course, there's Gale. Gale King. 00:29:21.400 --> 00:29:24.759 The ultimate best friend. The platonic ideal 00:29:24.759 --> 00:29:28.920 of a best friend. For years, rumors have persisted 00:29:28.920 --> 00:29:30.880 that they are gay, which Oprah has consistently 00:29:30.880 --> 00:29:33.619 and firmly denied. How does she describe the 00:29:33.619 --> 00:29:35.640 relationship? She put it beautifully once in 00:29:35.640 --> 00:29:38.700 an old magazine. She said, there isn't a definition 00:29:38.700 --> 00:29:40.839 in our culture for this kind of bond between 00:29:40.839 --> 00:29:44.980 women. It's a platonic soulmate connection. In 00:29:44.980 --> 00:29:47.059 a life where everyone wants something from her, 00:29:47.160 --> 00:29:50.180 Gail is the one person who just wants her. And 00:29:50.180 --> 00:29:52.420 finally, the real estate. Because you can't be 00:29:52.420 --> 00:29:54.099 a billionaire without some serious property. 00:29:54.279 --> 00:29:57.359 The portfolio is vast. She has properties in 00:29:57.359 --> 00:30:00.799 Hawaii, in Colorado, in Washington state. But 00:30:00.799 --> 00:30:03.319 the crown jewel is the Promised Land estate in 00:30:03.319 --> 00:30:05.460 Montecito, California. That's the main one. It 00:30:05.460 --> 00:30:08.140 started at 42 acres, and she's expanded it to 00:30:08.140 --> 00:30:11.440 over 70 acres. It's not just a home. It's a sanctuary. 00:30:11.559 --> 00:30:14.339 From potato sack dresses in rural Mississippi 00:30:14.339 --> 00:30:17.880 to a 70 -acre estate called the Promised Land. 00:30:18.119 --> 00:30:21.019 It is the ultimate, almost unbelievable American 00:30:21.019 --> 00:30:23.880 story. So let's wrap this all up. We've gone 00:30:23.880 --> 00:30:26.619 from that farm in Mississippi through the trauma, 00:30:26.759 --> 00:30:29.059 the radio days, the complete takeover of daytime 00:30:29.059 --> 00:30:32.539 TV, the billions, the influence, the controversies. 00:30:32.940 --> 00:30:35.799 What is the big takeaway here? I think the biggest 00:30:35.799 --> 00:30:38.240 takeaway is that Oprah Winfrey didn't just succeed 00:30:38.240 --> 00:30:40.880 in the existing system. She fundamentally changed 00:30:40.880 --> 00:30:43.039 the system. She replaced the voice of authority, 00:30:43.339 --> 00:30:46.660 which was for centuries the white male news anchor 00:30:46.660 --> 00:30:49.119 with the voice of the friend. She validated emotion 00:30:49.119 --> 00:30:51.759 as a legitimate way of understanding the world. 00:30:51.900 --> 00:30:54.359 She did. And she proved that vulnerability, which 00:30:54.359 --> 00:30:56.420 is often seen as a weakness, can actually be 00:30:56.420 --> 00:30:58.619 your greatest business asset. A source of power. 00:30:58.779 --> 00:31:02.400 A massive source of power. But here's the provocative 00:31:02.400 --> 00:31:04.220 thought I want to leave you with. Go for it. 00:31:04.599 --> 00:31:07.420 We talked about the Oprah effect, that singular 00:31:07.420 --> 00:31:11.180 ability to unify a massive national audience, 00:31:11.400 --> 00:31:14.099 to sell a million books in a day, to swing a 00:31:14.099 --> 00:31:17.279 presidential election. In today's completely 00:31:17.279 --> 00:31:20.059 fractured media landscape, with social media 00:31:20.059 --> 00:31:22.880 algorithms, TikTok, niche podcasts, and political 00:31:22.880 --> 00:31:25.960 echo chambers, Is it even possible for anyone 00:31:25.960 --> 00:31:28.779 to ever have that much centralized power again? 00:31:28.940 --> 00:31:31.200 That's a great question. Is Oprah the last of 00:31:31.200 --> 00:31:33.839 the monoculture titans? The last person everyone 00:31:33.839 --> 00:31:36.460 listened to at the same time? I suspect she might 00:31:36.460 --> 00:31:39.400 be. She was a singular event formed by the unique 00:31:39.400 --> 00:31:42.200 concentration of three broadcast networks and 00:31:42.200 --> 00:31:44.819 the dawn of mass syndication. We will have influencers, 00:31:44.960 --> 00:31:47.619 sure. We will have stars. But we may never again 00:31:47.619 --> 00:31:49.660 see a single human being hold that much sway 00:31:49.660 --> 00:31:52.410 over the entire culture. A singular event indeed. 00:31:52.529 --> 00:31:54.369 Thank you for taking this journey with us. It 00:31:54.369 --> 00:31:56.329 really makes you think about how we all consume 00:31:56.329 --> 00:31:58.490 media today. Are we looking for information or 00:31:58.490 --> 00:32:00.430 are we looking for that rapport? And who are 00:32:00.430 --> 00:32:01.970 we inviting into our living rooms through our 00:32:01.970 --> 00:32:05.349 screens? Exactly. Thanks for listening to this 00:32:05.349 --> 00:32:07.410 deep dive on Oprah Winfrey. We'll see you next 00:32:07.410 --> 00:32:07.650 time.